Finding the missing piece to that puzzle
by Show-Stealin
Summary: Mickie James spends her life looking for love and failing, John Cena craves the attention women give him, working within the same company they begin bumping into each other time and time again. A close friendship eventually blooms between them after initial hiccups, they even begin match making, but will they ever see there the last piece to each others love puzzle.
1. Chapter 1

"I love you," said the petite blond. Her name was Amanda and she was in near tears at the thought that her fabulous boyfriend, John Cena was leaving for the road from her home town in less than a few minutes.

John smiled at the girl, thinking how easy it was for girls to fall in love with him. It was as if they were automatically infatuated with the person that would pay attention to them. Amanda was one of those fabulously wealthy girls from a prominent family, obviously worthy of John's wealth and stature in the wrestling world. But he knew it wouldn't last, she would never understand his world. Despite his indifference to the girl, he bent down and hugged her, "I love you."

The couple resumed to kiss when a car pulled up to the curb and a very annoyed brunette witnessed the entire scene.

"AHEM!"

John broke the kiss and Amanda blushed as she saw the brunette tapping the wheel in obvious annoyance.

"Oh, hi Mickie. Mickie, this is Amanda Nichols." At the mention of her name, Amanda's eyes narrowed a bit and darkened, but she merely nodded her head in her direction. "Mand, this is Mickie James."

John studied the brunette in the car. It was an old banger as some people would say, he wasn't even sure if this car would make it to the place they needed to be.

"Nice to meet you."

"Do you want to drive the first shift?"

John shook his head, "No, you're there already so you can start."

"Well, the trunk's open," said Mickie, who was eyeing the luggage on the curb.

John lugged his bags to the trunk and slid into the front seat. John rolled down the window and gave Amanda one last kiss.

Amanda sighed and got back on the curb, "Call me."

"I'll call you as soon as I get there."

"Oh! Call me from the road!"

"I'll call you before that!"

"I love you!"

"I love you!"

Mickie watched the display between Amanda and John for a few more moments before pressing down hard on the horn.

"Sorry," said Mickie as she looked at the stunned couple, who were annoyed she interrupted them by abruptly hitting the horn.

John looked a bit annoyed. He looked back at Amanda and blew her a kiss. "I miss you already."

"And I miss you already Johnny!"

"Bye Mandy."

"Bye."

John waved at Amanda and as mickie drove towards the exit of the hotel car park. Mickie looked over at John and smirked.

"So, how did a guy with your status end up having to slum it with me?"

John looked at Mickie in amazement. "I pissed Vince off, apparently my opinion is neither relevant or wanted, how come it's you that I have to slum it with as a punishment"

"Well, no other diva would have you" Mickie glanced at John.

"Hmph," was all John managed to get out.

Mickie continued to talk. "Well, as for this trip, I have it all figured out. It's an eighteen hour trip which breaks down into six shifts of three hours each or alternatively we could break it down by mileage."

John, the whole time Mickie was speaking, was reaching in the back seat where one of his bags was. John watched him stretch to the back, hoping he was at least paying a smidgen of attention to what she was talking about.

"There's a map back there...I marked the places of where we could change shifts if you still want to continue the drive with me..."

John plopped back into the front seat with a bag of grapes in his hand. He offered them to Mickie, who politely declined.

"No thanks, I don't like to eat between meals."

John shrugged and spit out a seed, not realizing that the window was closed. He grinned and rolled the window down.

"Why don't you tell me the story of your life?"

Mickie gave him an sceptical look. "The story of my life?"

"We've got eighteen hours to kill before we hit New York." John pushed the seat back and propped his feet up on the dashboard.

"Well, the story of my life isn't even going to get us out of Chicago. I mean, nothing's happened to me yet. That's why I'm living on the road"

"So something can happen to you?"

"Yes."

"Like what?"

Mickie gave John a small smile, "I dunno, since I first started here I've been writing down road stories I've heard from people, I would love to turn them into a book, with peoples blessing obviously"

"So you want to write about things that happen to other people?"

Mickie looked a bit offended that he had been so patronizing in his tone of voice. "That's one way to look at it."

John turned to face Mickie. "Suppose nothing happens to you. Suppose you lived out your whole life and nothing happens; you never meet anybody, you never become anything, and finally you die in one of those deaths which nobody notices for a fortnight until the smell drifts into the hallway?"

Mickie cringed at the thought, but she wasn't about to let some snobby prat from the roster put her off her dreams.

"Amanda seems to have a dark side. Shame she knows nothing of your previous 'girlfriends' with people who look very similar."

John's smirk returned after a moment, which was directed at John. "That's what drew her to me."

"Her dark side?" Mickie contained the laugh that wanted to escape from her mouth. 'This is going to be too long of a trip,' she thought.

"Sure," said John with renewed confidence. "Why, don't you have a dark side?" Mickie shook her head and continued to concentrate on the road. John leaned back into the front seat. "No, you're probably one of those cheerful people who dot their "i's" with little hearts."

That comment definitely struck a cord in the young witch. 'How DARE he think I am a frivolous child!' Mickie took a deep breath.

"I have just as much of a dark side as the next person!" Mickie mentally cursed herself for the pathetic retort.

John was not about to be challenged, and he could feel a small one coming on.

"Oh yeah, when I buy a new book, I always read the last page first. That way, in case I die before I finish I know how it ends. That, my friend, is a dark side."

John shook her head. "That doesn't mean you're deep or anything. Ugh, I mean, yes, basically I'm a happy person..."

"So am I."

"...and I don't see that there's anything wrong with that!"

"Of course not, you're too busy being happy. Do you ever think about death?" John stared out the window watching Mickie's reflection on the glass. The girl had clearly never interacted with anyone like him, and from the sour look on her face, she was likely to throw him out of the car while it was moving. This gave John more of a reason to piss her off; it was one of the things he was good at.

"Yes," answered Mickie after some time.

"Sure you do a fleeting thought that jumps in and out of the transient of your mind. I spend hours, I spend DAYS..."

"Do you think that makes you a better person?" Mickie could not BELIEVE this guy. One of the top guy's, if not the top guy, the company she worked for and he was sitting in the front seat of her car soiling their conversation with thoughts of death!

John was getting a bit annoyed at miss sunshine in the driver's seat, that and he wanted to be the sole contributor to the conversation.

"Look, when the shit comes down, I'm gonna be prepared and you're not, that's all I'm saying."

"And in the mean time you're going to ruin your life waiting for it."

"Psycho" John mumbled

"Hey, that was just a character"

"Which you played a little to well"

And with that, there was a long period of silence as Mickie and John drove into the evening

* * *

_**Thanks for reading!**_

_**Any questions ask!**_

_** Lexi_Price (i know i was zigglewigglelp, Read my profile an explanation)**_


	2. Chapter 2

After a few hours of driving, Mickie and John had switched places. They were presently arguing in the car about the movie 'Casablanca.'

"You're wrong," claimed Mickie.

"I'm not wrong," insisted John, "he wants.."

"NO! You're wrong."

"...he wants her to leave, that's why he put her on the plane."

Mickie shook her head, "I don't think she wants to stay."

John laughed and gave Mickie a look that said he was determined to win the argument. "Of course she wants to stay! Wouldn't you rather be with Humphrey Bogart than the other guy?"

"I don't want to spend the rest of my life in Casablanca married to a man who runs a bar! I probably sound very snobbish to you, but I don't." Mickie crossed her arms across her chest as if to make that action a final point in her argument.

John sighed, "You'd rather be in a passionless marriage?"

"And be the first lady of Czechoslovakia" Mickie was standing firm on her argument.

"Than live with the man you've had the greatest sex of your life with, and just because he owns a bar and that's all he does?"

"Yes," said Mickie. Her voice was quavering a bit, but she was determined to make her point. "And so would any woman in her right mind. Women are very practical, even Ingrid Bergman, which is why she gets on the plane at the end of the movie."  
At this point, John was getting rather hungry. He saw a small diner on the lonely highway they were on and pulled in.

"I understand," said John before he got out of the car.

"What? What?"

"Nothing."

"What?" Mickie was getting visibly annoyed.

"Forget about it."

"For..what? Forget about what?"

"It's not important." 'Boy,' thought John, 'it's easy as hell to get on this girl's nerves.'

"So? Just tell me!"

John sighed and gave Mickie a look that one gives a patient who is on their death bed. "Obviously, you haven't had great sex yet." John got out of the car and walked into the diner with Mickie fast at his heels. "Two please," said John to the waitress at the door. The young lady just looked at him and popped the gum in her mouth. 'Disgusting habit,' thought John. She pointed a hot pink nail in the direction of a table on the far side of the diner.

"Over there."

Mickie followed John to the table and sat down fuming.

"YES I HAVE."

"No you haven't," said John as he opened his menu.

"It just so happens," said Mickie in a curt tone, "that I have had plenty of good sex." The restaurant suddenly became extremely quiet, and Mickie finally realized how loudly she had said that. She slumped down in her seat as John grinned.

"With who?"

"What?" Mickie was looking at her menu and trying to compose herself after her little outburst. The last thing she wanted was to look at John. She knew he was smirking at her.

John leaned across the table and pushed down the menu so he could see Mickie's face.

"With whom did you have this great sex?"

Mickie blushed to the roots of her hair. "I am not going to tell you that!"

"Fine," said John, "don't tell me." He crossed his arms over his chest, leaned back, and to Mickie's dismay, he smirked the whole time.

Mickie huffed and mumbled under her breath. John leaned forward again and tilted her chin up. She glared at him, "Ziggler"

John could barely contain himself. "Ziggler? Dolph!? No, no, you didn't have great sex with...Dolph!"

"I did too!" Mickie's fist hit the table, causing some of the silverware to fall on the ground. She found herself once again the centre of attention in the small diner. She bent down to pick up the silverware, completely aware that John had some scathing or sarcastic comment to make once she was done cleaning up her mess. 'Who does this guy think he is? John Cena, big deal.'

Mickie finished picking up the silverware and laid them on the corner of the table so the waitress could pick them up. She stared across the table where John was staring back with a vacant expression. Mickie opened her mouth to say something when John held up his hand. Her mouth closed, a frown left on her face.

"No, you didn't. A dolph can do your taxes. If you needed someone to help you with the grammar in your book, a dolph would be you man, but humping and pumping is not Dolph's strong suit. It's the name." John leaned back on his chair and pretended to swoon. "Do it to me 'Dolph,' you're an animal 'Dolph,' ride me big 'Dolph.' John looked at Mickie who was a bit taken aback by his 'dramatization.' He smirked, "Doesn't work."

Just then, the waitress came to their table, pad and pen in hand.

"Hi, what can I get ya?"

John perused his menu, a little annoyed that he picked this place to eat. He never understood the purpose of little urn down establishments such as the diner where he and Mickie were sitting now. Nor did he understand how casual the service was.

"I'll have a number three."

Mickie looked up from her menu and gave the waitress a weak smile. She was still a bit flustered at the conversation she and John had been having, "I'd like the chef salad please with the oil and vinegar on the side and the apple pie a la mode."  
The waitress was scribbling on her pad, "Chef and apple a la mode," she mumbled out loud. She looked at the couple in front her, waiting to see if there was anything else that was needed.

Mickie cleared her throat so that the waitress would stop staring at John. " I would like the pie heated and I don't want the ice cream on top I want it on the side and I'd like strawberry instead of vanilla if you have it and if not then no ice cream just whipped cream but only if it's real if it's out of the can then nothing."

John and the waitress gave Mickie looks of bewilderment. Mickie took a breath and sat back in her chair.

The waitress was bit confused, "Not even the pie?"

"No," explained Mickie, "just the pie, but then not heated."

"Uh huh."

"What?" Mickie glared at the waitress who promptly glared back and walked away.

John was amused at this girl. She was very precise, obviously brought up well, but a bit uptight. Not someone he would EVER get involved with, she was too bossy and particular and well, not much of a challenge for him. He looked at Mickie who seemed satisfied that they were finally going to eat.

"So, how come you broke up with Dolph?"

"How do you know we broke up?" Mickie regretted that retort as soon as it left her mouth, she knew she had retaliated too fast.

"Because, if you didn't break up you wouldn't be here with me, you'd be off with Dolph, the wonder sex god."

John was enjoying the fact that she was getting extremely irritated. He sensed it took very little to push her buttons.

Mickie leaned forward a bit and scowled. "First of all, I am not 'with' you, and second of all it is none of your business why we broke up."

"You're right, you're right," John held up his hands in mock surrender, "I don't want to know."

"Well, if you must know," John smiled at the fact he pushed another right button. Mickie continued to defend herself, "it was because he was very jealous and I had these days-of-the-week knickers."

John pressed down on the table as if he was pressing a buzzer, "EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Mickie frowned, and John continued, "I'm sorry I need a judge's ruling on this...days-of-the-week knickers?"

Mickie put on her bravest face, "Yes, they had the days of the week on them and I thought they were sort of funny. And then one day Dolph says to me, 'You never wear Sunday.' It was all suspicious, where was Sunday? Where was Sunday? And I told him and he didn't believe me."

"Why?" John was enjoying her little defence story.

"They don't make Sunday."

"Why?"

"Well, because of God."

Before John could even come up with anything to say, the waitress came out with their food.

Mickie and John ate in silence. They actually missed the bickering a bit, but they were both tired and hungry. Occasionally one of them would grunt, John, or clear their throat, mickie, while pointing to either the salt and pepper shakers, or the napkins.


	3. Chapter 3

After their plates were cleared away, Mickie took the check as soon as it was left on the table and began to calculate their share.

"Ok, well, fifteen percent of my share is...six dollars and ninety cents. I am going to put down seven." Mickie began to count out her money when she realized that John was staring at her. "What? What is it? Do I have something on my face?"

"You're a very attractive person."

"Oh," said Mickie, a bit taken aback by the comment, "thank you."

But John wasn't done, "Steph never said how attractive you were."

Mickie was pretending to busy herself by folding and unfolding her dollar bills. She wasn't quite used to getting compliments, especially long drawn out ones, nor was she accustomed to getting them from men who looked like John. 'Damn!' Mickie silently cursed herself for ever THINKING that John was somewhat attractive. 'Just fold the bills Mickie,' she thought. She looked at John with a frown; she knew she had to respond to him because he would just egg her on.

"Well, maybe she doesn't think I'm attractive."

John smirked. 'Damn him,' thought Mickie,' him and that damn smirk!'

"I don't think it's a matter of opinion, empirically, you are attractive."

Mickie was still astonished that John would even have the nerve to compliment her in such a way. Her pursed her lips and stared at him with cold eyes.

"You have a girlfriend." "So?"

"So?! You're coming onto me!" Mickie's voice was sharp and John didn't realize until then how easy it was to get under Mickie's skin.

"No I wasn't." John sounded like a child defending himself after being accused of something by his mother. He looked at Mickie whose jaw had dropped at his comment. "What? Can't a man say a woman is attractive without it being a come-on?" The look on Mickie's face told John exactly what she thought about being called attractive...by a man.

Not willing to concede to Mickie's accusations, John continued his defence.

"Alright, alright, let's just say for the sake of argument that it was a come-on. What do you want me to do about it? I take it back, ok? I take it back."

Mickie was not buying it. "You can't take it back."

"Why the hell not?"

"Because," said Mickie in a very matter-of-fact way, "it's already OUT THERE."

John was annoyed at Mickie's reaction. At first he thought it was cute, now he just wanted to be as far away from the brunette.

"Oh, what are we suppose to do, call the police" John shook his head, "It's already out there," he muttered in a mocking tone.

Mickie was embarrassed and peeved at the same time. She took a sip of her water and sighed, "Just let it lie, ok?"

John threw his hands up in the air, "Great! Let it lie! That's my policy." John slumped down in his seat, scowling in Mickie's direction. "That's what I always say," continued John, "let it lie! Hey," he looked at her intently across the table with a softened expression, "Wanna spend the night at a motel?" The expression on Mickie's face was priceless, shock and anger written all over her face. John smirked. 'Damn him!' thought Mickie.

John let out a laugh, "Ha! See what I did? I didn't let it lie."

"John.."

"I said I wouldn't let it lie, and a Cena always keeps his word." 'Insolent bastard!' thought Mickie.

"John, look, we're just going to be friends, ok?"

'What the hell is this broad babbling about?' John was getting very agitated at this woman, with her over analyse every god damn thing he said. Fine, she thinks I'm coming on to her, she thinks I'm falling all over her, FINE!

"Great," sniffed John, sarcasm dripping from his mouth like venom, "Friends. It's the best thing really." With that, he stood up and walked out of the diner towards the car.

Mickie shook her head and paid for the meal herself.

'This is going to be a very long trip,' she thought.

John and Mickie continued to drive for almost an hour before anyone spoke. John was the first to break the silence.

"You realize of course that we can never be friends."

Mickie took a moment to look at the hat wearing man driving her car. Anger was seeping through her veins at this comment.

"Is this about being punished? Don't you realize that YOUR opinion might be the only one in the wwe that most of the time, not all of the time most of the time actually means something, you hate having to ride with me because your afraid to 'taint' your precious reputation by mixing with the likes of me?" Mickie huffed and slammed back into her seat.

John shook his head and looked at Mickie with grin. "Well your wrong, my opinion counts for jack shit, I don't care if you were you or a gruffalo, and no, I don't care what the boys think about me riding with you, and it may 'taint' my reputation but I couldn't give a shit at this point I have bigger worries"

"My apologies," whispered Mickie, who knew she once again jumped to conclusions.

"Any ways," said John, obviously dismissing the previous part of their conversation, "What I was trying to say was...and this is not a 'come-on' in any way, shape, or form, men and women can't be friends because the sex part always gets in the way."

John shut his mouth and waited patiently for Mickie to snap back at him about how she had male friends who she had never even thought of sleeping with and vice versa.

Sure enough, after a moment of silence, Mickie found something to say back to him, and it was exactly what he had predicted. "That's not true." John just smirked and Mickie saw it. It was grating on her nerves that he was so...so...UGH! "I have a number of men friends and there is no sex."

"No you don't," said John in a very matter-of-fact way.

"Yes I do!"

"No...You...Don't."

"YES I DO!"

John took a turn in the road rather sharply which caused Mickie to slam against the door. A small laugh escaped John's mouth and Mickie had to round up every bit of self-control to not smack him.

"Mickie, you only think you do. And now you're going to get all offended."

"Well, I should be! Are you trying to say that I'm shagging all these blokes without my knowledge?"

"No, what I'm saying is that they all want to shag you."

"They do not."

"Do too."

"Do not."

"Do too."

"Well, almighty and all knowing John, how do YOU know? Are you some kind of mind reader? I'll have you know I don't believe it and if you were a mind reader you would have seen this whole trip and seen what an ASS you are. Knowing you, you probably are one and you're only on this trip because you think it's brilliantly funny to irritate the hell out of me!"

"Sorry to burst your bubble Miss Priss, but I am no mind reader. And if I was, you're right, I would have gone on this trip just to irritate the hell out of you." John laughed at the thought, and took another turn too sharply.

John gripped the handle on the side of the door. "This is not some speedway Cena, don't wreck my car. And my friends do NOT want to sleep with me."

She obviously wasn't going to drop the subject unless she got the last word in, and John always got the last word.

"They do." John pulled into a gas station and hopped out. Mickie got out herself and walked to the driver's side to begin driving again.

"How do you know? Hmmm?"

"Because, James, no man can be friends with a woman he finds attractive. He always wants to have sex with her."

"So you're saying that a man can be friends with a woman if he finds her unattractive?" Mickie looked at John who was fixing his hair in the mirror. 'Damn him...sitting there so bloody sure of himself! He is not going to get the best of me!'

"Nah," John continued to fix his hair, "You pretty much want to shag'em too." He turned towards Mickie with a look of triumph over the fact that he was so sure of his 'theory.'

Mickie put the car in gear and began to drive the last leg of the trip. 'We're almost there,' she thought, carefully concentrating on the road. 'I'm going to drop him off and it will be good riddance to bad attitudes and ridiculous conversations.'

"John?" John was half asleep in the front seat.

He opened one eye, "Yeah?"

"What if they don't want to have sex with you?"

"Who?"

"The friend. You say that a bloke will want to bag a lady regardless of whether or not he finds her attractive, but what if he just really doesn't want to?"

"It doesn't matter, because the sex thing is already out there so the 'friendship' is ultimately doomed and that is the end of the story."

"Well, that's a crappy ending." Mickie adjusted her mirrors and tapped her fingers along to the music. "I guess we're not going to be friends then."

"Guess not."

"That's too bad you know. Vince said to me he may always not pay for your bus and first class flights when needed" mickie adjusted in her seat glancing at him as his eyes opened "Must of really pissed him off, shame we're not friends, you'll have to find someone else to road with"


End file.
